Weft-tension-regulating device for looms



(No Model.)

J. WIDMER. WEFT TENSION, REGULATING DEVICE FOR LOOMS. No. 425,014. v Patented Apr. 8 1890.

N, PETERS. mwmhb mr. Washington, 11c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB VVIDMER, OF NEW HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

WEFT-TENSION-REGULATING DEVICE FOR LOOMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,014, dated April 8, 1890. Application filed August 27, 1889. $erial No. 322,148. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JACOB WIDMER, of New Hartford, in the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in WVeft-Tension-Regulating Devices for Looms, of which the following isa full, clear, and exact description, whereby any one skilled in the art can make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby the tension of the weft-thread used in weaving may be made variable during the course of the run of the shuttle. In weaving heavy goods-that is, those in which a comparatively large thread is used-it is necessary, in order to properly form the selvage, to have a considerable drag or tension on the thread in the shuttle, and such a tension as is uniform throughout the length of the run of the shuttle causes the latter to move slowly on a fiy-shuttle loom, and this limits the capacity of the loom and the amount of work that can be turned out by it within a given time.

My invention consists in the combination of a shuttle or like cop receptacle with a tension device having a projecting part and a trip device located in the path of movement of the shuttle in position to encounter a part of the tension device.

It further consists of the combination of a presser-arm borne on the lathe, or an equivalent part attached to the loom, and near the path or run of the shuttle, in combination with the shuttle having the tension device with projecting arm; and it further consists in the several parts making up the device as a whole, and in their combination, as more particularly hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the old shuttles of the prior art there is a constant tension exerted on the thread, while the tension in my improved shuttle is purposely made variable.

In the operation of my improved shuttle the thread is delivered freely from it, except when it is near the limit of the run, and then the spring-arm on the tension device encounters the arm of the lathe-beam and causes the tension device to exert a firmer hold upon the thread, thus drawing it tight in the shed; but the grasp of the tension device on the thread is released before the end of the run is reached, so as not to draw in the selvage on the further edge of the goods. The lathe beats up.

in the usual manner after the completion of the run of the shuttle.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is a detail front view of a shuttle embodying my invention with part of the shuttle carrier and of the tension operating device shown in relation to the shuttle. Fig. 2 is a detail top view of the same with parts located as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a bottom view, on an enlarged scale, of the tension device, the parts being in the relative positions occupied when the thread is free to play out without tension. Fig. 4 is a bottom view, on an enlarged scale, of the tension device, the parts being in the relative position occupied when tension is put upon the thread. Fig. 5 is a detail view of a portion of the tension device with parts cut away to show the construction.

In the accompanying drawings only so much of the shuttle and of the parts immediately relating to the within-described improvement and its operation are shown.

The letter a denotes the shuttle as a whole, shown as held in the shuttle-holder b in a positive-motion loom-that is, one in which the shuttle is pushed along its run, instead of being thrown, as by means of a picker-stick. The shuttle or cop-receptable dis of suitable shape to contain a cop c, or like mass of thread, and is so formed at the ends as to afford a suitable means for grasping the shuttle. One end of the thread 0' is led through an opening in the end of the shuttle, and then returns to about midway of the shuttle, where it passes through the tension device cl. This tension device is made up of a housing (1', fast to the side of the shuttle supporting a grooved tension-wheel and a spring-controlled grasping-j aw e, that is in operative connection with the tension-lever d The shaft f is mounted in the housing with the jaw e fixed so as to turn with it. An arm 6 is also fixed to this shaft and projects upon the opposite side from the jaw, and furnishes a bearing on its outer end for an adj ustingscrew g, that is located in a threaded socket in the tension-lever (F, the latter being mounted so as to turn freely 011 the shaft f. The projecting part of the tension-lever is preferably rounded, so that it may be slid freely along the tension-bar 71, that is fixed to the lathe-beam. The tension-lever is held at the Outer limit of its play by means of the spring 1', the foot (1" on the end of the tension-lcver by contact with the side of the shuttle limit ing the outward play of the tension-lever.

\Vhen the tension-lever is in the outward position, as shown in Fig. 3, its normal path of movementis along the line a: a; for the greater part of the travel of the shuttle, and during this time the jaw c of the tension device is atits greatest distance from the groove in the wheel (1, opposite the periphery of which the jaw is located. The thread is then free to feed out from the shuttle; but in the course of its run the tension-lever encounters the tension-bar 71, that is located with referonce to the shuttle as denoted by the line 1 y in Fig. 4. The contact of the tension-lever with the tension-bar closes the jaw 6 upon the thread and grasps it with more or less firmness (depending upon the diameter of the thread) between the face of the jaw and the curved periphery of the wheel or pulley.

The jaw c in the form of tension device shown is so shaped as to fit into the groove in the periphery of the wheel d" when pressure is applied to the outer end of the arm of the tension-lever (Z as is illustrated in Fig. a of the drawings.

In order to adapt the tension device to operate with threads of dilferent diameter, the tension-lever is adj ustably connected to the grasping-jaw by the means already described, the adj Listing-screw g attordin g means for regulating the limit of the movement of the jaw, although its extent of movement will be the same in every instance. By means of this adj Listing-screw the least distance between the periphery of the roll and the grasping-face of the jaw may be adjustably determined, so as to adapt the tension device to operate when a thread of any desired diameter within the capacity of the device is used.

I claim as my invention- 1. In combination with a shuttle or copholder, the tension device having the graspingjaws, a tension -lever projecting from the shuttle, and the tension-bar fixed in the path of movement of the projecting end of the tension -lever, all substantially as described.

2. In combination with a shuttle or cop-receptacle, a tension device consisting of the thread-grasping jaws, the tension-lever in operative connection with one of the graspingjaws, and the tension-bar having a fixed relation to the path of movement of the shuttle, all substantially as described.

3. In combination with the shuttle having the cop receptacle, the tension wheel, the grasping-jaw pivotally supported in Opera tive relation to the wheel, the arm 6', rigidly connected to the grasping-jaw, the tensionlever, and the ad j Listing-screw, whereby the relative position of the arm 6 and of the tension-lever may be determined, all substantially as described.

4:. In combination with a shuttle or copholder, the tension device having the threadgrasping jaws and a spring actuated tensionlever projecting from the shuttle, and the tension-bar fixed in the path of movement of the projecting end of the tension-lever, all substantially as described.

JACOB \VIDMER.

\Vitnesses:

A. B. JENKINS, II. R. WILLIAMS. 

